The next leader of the NAACP will be Lorraine C. Miller, a top Democratic leadership aide for more than a decade who spent four years as the first African-American clerk of the House the last time her party was in the majority. The nation's largest and oldest civil rights group announced Monday that Miller will become the interim president and CEO on Nov. 1 and will be in charge while the Baltimore-based organization seeks a permanent leader. She will be the first woman to hold the top job, succeeding Benjamin Jealous, who announced last month that he would step down at the end of the year, after five years at the helm. “These are important times, and the important work of the NAACP will go on,” said Miller, who has been a commercial real estate broker since the GOP took control of the House in 2011. As clerk, she managed most of the daily bureaucratic operations of the House, overseeing nine different offices and about 250 other staffers. (The clerk also presides on the opening day of each Congress until the speaker is elected.) Miller has been president of the NAACP’s branch in Washington, D.C., and has been on the national board of directors since 2008. (more…)
